At least one unnamed inspection pod was carried aboard Enterprise throughout the first two years of the starship's ten-year mission. Unlike the craft's shuttlepods, the inspection pod was stored in a cargo bay, not in one of the vessel's launch bays.

In early November 2151, Captain Archer and SubcommanderT'Pol used an inspection pod to analyze the doors to launch bay two, which had been damaged in an accident that had claimed the destruction of a Tesnian starship. Archer realized, from the vantage point of the pod's cockpit, that launch bay two required a new starboard door, a task that he instructed T'Pol to relay to Lieutenant Hess in Engineering, since Commander Tucker was absent. (ENT: "Shuttlepod One")

In 2152, Archer and Tucker inspected damage to Enterprise's primary hull in an inspection pod. The ship had been damaged in a Romulanminefield approximately four days before the officers' inspection. As Enterprise would take a decade to reach Jupiter Station, Captain Archer decided to appeal to others for assistance. He contacted Ensign Hoshi Sato, using the inspection pod's communications gear, and told her to begin work on a general distress call. (ENT: "Dead Stop")